He said Putin and he had reached an agreement on the visit in the course of a telephone conversation some four days ago and the two countries’ diplomatic services had named December 3 as a possible date.

He said this was not linked in any way to the incident around the Syrian Airlines jet, which the Turkish Air Force compelled to land in Ankara when it was performing a flight from Moscow to Damascus. The Turks confiscated some pieces of cargo from the jet claiming it could be used for military purposes.

Earlier in the day, Putin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said Putin’s visit to Turkey might take place December 3.

“The final date will be coordinated by diplomatic channels,” Peskov said.